Καθ. Γρηγόριος Στάθης / Prof. Gregorios Stathis
Μια παρουσίαση / A presentation
Gregorios Stathis was born in 1939 in Platania-Gerakarion, Ioannina. He received
his musical education in Athens and later furthered his studies in Rome, Oxford
and Copenhagen. In 1970 he was appointed at the newly established Institute of the
Byzantine Musicology of the Church of Greece and currently he is its director. At
the same time he is a professor at the University of Athens and the head of its
Musicology department.
Prof. Stathis' publications to date number well over three hundred and deal with
various aspects of the Byzantine chant and Greek folk music. Among his books one
must mention the monumental cataloguing project of the music mss preserved on Mt.
Athos (three volumes have been published and other four are under preparation),
his doctoral thesis "He dekapentesyllabos Ymnographia en te Byzantine mousike",
"Hoi anagrammatismoi kai ta mathemata tes Byzantines melopoiias" (a work dealing
with the anagrammatismoi and mathemata - a genre of the Byzantine chant) and "He
exegesis tes palaias Byzantines semeiographias" (a book on the Old method of the
Byzantine chant and its transcription into the New Method). Among ongoing projects
one can single out the preparation of the detailed catalogue of the protographa
in the New method, the catalogue of the mss of Gregorios Protopsaltes preserved
in the library of Konstantinos Psachos and the catalogue of the music mss preserved
in Meteora.
Prof. Stathis has transcribed from the Old method a large number of the compositions
by Parthenios Meteorites (18th c.) as well as the studying tool of the old sticheraric
chant "Ho thelon mousiken mathein" by Panagiotes Chrysaphes the New (17th c.). At
the same time he is active in the compositional field having set to music the two
services of the Asmatic rite of the Great Church, Pannychis and Trithekte and the
Nativity Kontakion by St. Romanos. He has also written music for the service of
the consecration of a church and Sunday Prokeimena and Allelouiaria.
Under Prof. Stathis' direction the Institute of the Byzantine Musicology became
a leading research institution in the field of the Byzantine musicology. He was
the chairman of the organising committees of two conferences on the Psaltic art
held under the auspicies of the Church of Greece which were attended by the renowned
Greek and foreign musicologists and chanters.
Worth mentioning is Prof. Stathis' prolific cooperation with the late Archon Protopsaltes
of the Great Church Thrasyboulos Stanitsas with whom he produced three LPs with
music by Petros Lampadarios, Gregorios Protopsaltes and Petros Bereketes. He assisted
the Athonite fathers with the CD "Hosios Simon" published by Simonopetra monastery
and prepared the choir of Ormylia nuns for their recording of the vigil of St. Mary
Magdalene.
Interviews with Prof. Stathis
Professor G. STATHIS in Australia: 25.5.2005
Professor G. Stathis from the University of Athens speaks about the cultural treasures
of Byzantine music and its Hellenic roots.
Part 1 [mp3] [rm]
Part 2 [mp3] [rm]
(from
SBS radio)
Axion Estin Broadcast on the Cosmos FM on 91.5 [html
(with mp3)]
Conferences on the Byzantine chant
1st International Pan-Hellenic Conference on the Psaltic Art
Athens, 2000
2nd International Pan-Hellenic Conference on the Psaltic Art
Athens, 2003
Minutes of the 1st Psaltic conference
an article by Prof. Stathis in the Ekklisia magazine.
Minutes of the 2nd Psaltic conference
an article by A. Chaldaiakis in the Ekklisia magazine.
Minutes of the conference on the Ecphonetic notation and practice (Athens, 2001)
an article by Prof. Stathis in the Ekklisia magazine.
The Masters of the Psaltic Art
The choir of the Masters of the Psaltic Art was established in 1983 under the leadership
of Prof. Stathis continuing the tradition of the IBM choir directed by Thr. Stanitsas.
It consists of 24 chanters, the protopsaltai and lampadarioi of various churches
in Athens, musicology students and researchers from the University of Athens and
the Institute of the Byzantine musicology. The goal of the choir is the promotion
of the Byzantine chant through the practical and theoretical excellence.
The choir took part in many concerts both in Greece and abroad: Russia, Italy, France,
Cyprus, Israel, Armenia, Australia and the United States. Numerous recordings done
by the choir feature the classical pieces by both Byzantine and post-Byzantine composers:
St. John Koukouzeles, Balasios the Priest, Germanos Archbishop of Neon Patras. One
should also mention the "Meteora ta hiera" dedicated to the Jubilee of the Meteora
monastery and the CD "Agiorites melourgoi A" with works by the well-known Athonite
composers.
Sound samples
Ota echousi
Angeloi, archangeloi
a kalophonic verse of the Polyeleos by Balasios the Priest
First mode
Doxasomen
Triada
, a kalophonic heirmos by Germanos of Neon Patras and the kratema Teeterirem by
Pagkratios Ibirites
First Mode